Your Personal GPS

In the past, I invariable included in my speeches on developing leadership skills the notion that each of us should have a personal advisory board.  It's immeasurably valuable to have a group of people against whom to bounce ideas, to get good counsel when in a quandary about a troublesome issue, or even simply to help take stock of one's achievements and challenges.

But my friend Al Chase, guru to many, took that concept a step further in brilliant fashion in a conversation today.  We talked of the feeling that many of us have that somehow we should be self reliant, able to take our own counsel and not look to others to help us figure out problems or summon the courage to do difficult things.  Some people feel it is a sign of weakness to have to look outside themselves for guidance and direction.  They figure if they just think harder, study it longer, rack their brain ever more deeply, they'll be able to solve knotty problems on their own.

Al said to consider the analogy to a GPS system. The global positioning system (GPS) provides a modern improvement on the means our ancestors used to determine--literally--where they stood in the world.  They would erect landmark (hence the name) monuments, draft detailed maps, read the stars in the night sky in order to get a fix on their physical location in the world.

Today each of us, with a simple pocket-sized gadget, can know exactly where on earth we are physically.  The system works by means of a number of earth-orbiting satellites, each of which transmits information about our location from its own particular perspective.  The composite of that information is what provides, as a matter of deduction, exactly where we are, based on a simple mathematical principle called trilateration.  

 

 

Most of us would consider it a waste of time to try to figure out our physical location on earth without consulting a GPS system.

Let's consider the analogy of each of us looking for personal direction, for guidance in running our life. When we've exhausted our own capability to make sense of an issue (or perhaps just to get confirmation of a resolution we've worked out), we may reach out to any number of trusted advisors in our lives.  Each of them will have a different take on things, based on their own life experience, professional expertise, age and background. 

It may at first feel confusing to find that each of our close circle of personal advisors may have a different opinion on our subject of inquiry.  But think of them as your personal GPS system.  When you are able to bring each of their views together, you have an opportunity to take the useful information or advice from each and form a composite of opinion that works.  You are enriched by involving all of them, not just one.  Since each has a different slant on your question, the richer your eventual decision will be, since it can reflect--if you choose it to--the entirety of the composition of opinions as they intersect on you and your challenge.

 

I think of the five closest friends in my life, with whom I spend time at least a once a month.  When one of us brings up an issue confounding her, there will invariably be five different opinions as to how we should resolve the problem.  We enjoy the privilege of accessing five perspectives on the subject.  When it's my turn I can reach my own decision enriched by the wisdom of the collective opinions intersecting valuably on my challenge.  It's obvious why a conversation with the group is a better way to approach solving a significant issue than wrestling it to the mat by myself.  Why would I try to divine the answers in the stars when I have my own personal GPS system for guidance?

How about you?  Have you formed your personal GPS system?   Do you have one in your business?